DINING:
Bistro Tuesdays Bring Taste of Europe to Mason Avenue

Salmon Mousse (Photos by Clarice MacGarvey)

Salmon Mousse (Photos by Clarice MacGarvey)

By CLARICE MACGARVEY
Cape Charles Wave

January 21, 2014

Chef Timothy Brown of Hook-U-Up Gourmet has ambitious culinary goals. He intends to elevate the level of dining on the Eastern Shore, and establish some new benchmarks for quality and good taste, both locally and region-wide.

A talented and innovative chef, Brown’s credentials include teaching at the Culinary Institute of America and operating the 5-Star restaurant, Myriah’s at Tower Hill.  He opened Hook-U-Up, a gourmet dine-in/take-out café-style restaurant, in April 2012, and began introducing Bistro Tuesdays, a more upscale dining experience, this past November.

My first visit to Hook-U-Up Gourmet’s Bistro Tuesdays event indicates that Chef Brown is taking the right approach, and that there is plenty of great dining ahead for epicureans living on, or visiting, the Shore.

Located at 227 Mason Avenue in downtown Cape Charles, the venue is small and intimate, with only six tables at the front. The kitchen is within view.  My companion and I arrived at 7:30, and although the dining space was packed, our server, also named Tim, seated us and took our drink orders right away.  My first surprise was finding some of my favorite wines listed at very reasonable price points.  The bottle of Hess Select Chardonnay we enjoyed, for example, was only $22.

For appetizers, my companion ordered the Salmon Mousse served with chopped egg, red onion, and crème fraiche.  It was so creamy and delicious, I couldn’t keep my fork away, even though I had a lovely appetizer of my own: Sauteed Local Crabmeat en bouchee, finished with sherry, butter, and country ham. [Read more…]